Isle Royale Forums

I thought I would start out with a standard trip report to help anyone heading it to the island. Then, I will follow up with some observations and questions.

Aug. 18-24: McCargo-Moskey-Chippewa (2 nights)-Ferry to Windigo

This was a solo trip, once my brother’s hip started bothering him a few weeks back. The trip on the Voyager was great. The day before departure I went to the dock to change my intra0island pick up from Malone to Chippewa. I ended up waiting there for several hours because Captain Don and Paula (who would need to enter the change) were on a special trip of the Seahunter for what was, I think, a dedication of the island by the Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa tribe (apologies, if i have the terminology wrong). The woman who handles the parking concession for the tribe told me that the ownership of the island had been transferred to the tribe and the island was being operated “in trust” by the NPS. The tribe and NPS would be making decisions jointly about the island. I asked a ranger about this and got a somewhat different story, so I am not really sure what the status is.

McCargo: This has always been one of my favorite sites on the island, but i was very disappointed this time. It was packed. More of an RV park than an Isle Royale campsite. I did manage to get a shelter, however. It seems that the trees and bushes in front of most of the shelters has gotten quite tall, eliminating any real view from most of them. Everyone I encountered there was just fine, no excessive noise, no obnoxious people. Just too many of them.

McCargo to Moskey: 8.4 miles, but it sure seemed longer. My original plan was to stay night 1 at Chickenbone West, which would have shortened this hike, but the alga warning kept me at McCargo. The hike took a lot out of me, mostly because of the very high heat on the trail. Added to that was that this was my first hike and my pack was almost at its peak weight. I went through three liters of water and was rationing that at the very end. On the way, I passed through CB West, one of the few sites i have not camped at. It is a beautiful site, right on the water. It was also largely empty, which certainly added to its charms. I met Pastor Jon there and he told me that a ranger directed him to an alternate source of water about a half mile off. Wish I had known!

Moskey: I dragged myself into camp and all shelters were taken. This was disappointing because of almost all the sites, shelters here really add something to a stay. They are right on the water with great views. Fortunately, across the trail from the water but with good access to it, I found an empty individual tent site. Like McCargo, Moskey was absolutely stuffed with people. Even the overflow group site was jammed full. Eventually, two young guys originally from New York asked to share my site and they set up camp there too. Great guys and I enjoyed talking to them. The basin water was quite comfortable and I, and others, had gone for a refreshing swim. My two new friends did the same. While there, a coed BSA group showed up at the other group site. Sounds like they had a rough trip and had to camp under the watchtower because they could not make it to a site on the night before. I had way, way too much GORP and offered it to the kids (“that is really good GORP!”). On my way out, I saw four huge beavers in the water.

Chippewa: On my way the next morning to Chippewa, I had resigned myself to not getting a shelter there. I passed several folks day hiking or leaving Chippewa and they all assured me there were empty shelter. They were right! Barely. Chippewa has four shelters. Two are up on a ridge with a fantastic view of the harbor and two are lower down, more shaded and closer to the dock. I nabbed shelter 1, up high with the view. shelter 2 was taken by a boater family, shelter 3 was taken by Pastor Jon and 4 was taken by kayakers. Later, both individual sites were taken by hikers. As i recall, the group site remained empty. For a day and a half, I relaxed and explored the bluffs behind my shelter and back towards the old “school house”. Even the apple tress near there were full of tart apples. I also learned that it was possible to take a path past the school house with perhaps some minor bushwhacking to reach the rocky point at the head of the harbor. Definitely in my plans for the next trip! As at Moskey, the water was perfect for a swim. While at Chippewa, the boaters next to me fired up the stand up grill and cooked a load of lake trout. They kindly offered Pastor Jon and me all we could possibly eat. It was delicious and their hospitality was appreciated. I had assumed that charcoal fires in the stand-up grills were allowed. The next morning, I saw the sign down by the dock; they were not allowed. Pretty sure the boaters knew this and did not care. I surmise this based on this story. After we gorged ourselves on fish, the boaters put up tents at their shelter site. Apparently, they had done so early that morning and trail crews told them it was not allowed, so they took them down. Once they were sure they would not be caught, they put them back up. I will note, however, that they asked if I objected. I figure if they did not feel that the tent rules applied to them, they did not feel bound by the fire restrictions.

Windigo: The Voyager picked me up at Chippewa for the ride to Windigo. I planned on hiking to Hugginin Cove but if i got a shelter, I was going to spend both of my remaining two nights at Windigo and day hike to Hugginin. Well, I was luck and got a shelter (later, campers were grabbing space at group sites). I had developed a rather large blister near my big toe, so i reluctantly skipped Hugginin. As is usual on the island, things worked out just fine. I had two great nights at Windigo, including my only moose siting. A cow spent a good fifteen minutes in front of my shelter in the creek. Quite a treat! I also enjoyed the company of three kayakers who were going home on the same voyager trip as me. These guys were from Minnesota (one was a transplanted Chicagoan) and i really enjoyed chatting with them on the deck of the store and on the way home. I did get to see where the new store will be and it looks great. It will have a big deck with great views and is supposed to open next year. My Minnesota kayaker friends told me to try the Rustic Cafe instead of Betty’s Pies (both near each other on 61). A great tip!

The island was the most crowded i had ever seen in close to fifteen trips. Perhaps, this is simply due to pent up demand due to Covid. If not, I think the NPS will need to take some action. I have heard talk of a site reservation system. I think I would prefer a strict cap on visitors and still allow flexibility on routes. But something has to give. McCargo was simply unpleasant and even Moskey approached that. Group sites seemed to be divided among designated overflow sites and sites reserved for groups.

It is extraordinarily dry on the island. For the first time ever, I encountered no muddy trails at all (excluding the ground below elevated board walks). While this was very pleasant, it speaks volumes about how dry it is. Hence the fire ban, which I hope everyone takes very seriously indeed.

A wildfire was growing on the eastern end of the island. It was over two hundred acres towards the end of my stay. I met firefights in Windigo who were on there way to the spot to fight the fire. There were also aerial water drops on it. I was told Lane Cove and the Stoll Trail were already closed and everything from Three Mile east was at risk.

Bugs were a non-issue. No flies. No mosquitos. Hundreds and hundreds of grasshoppers and dragon flies were everywhere. I wonder if this is attributable to the drought?

I had a good natured debate with the three Minnesota kayakers about crowd etiquette. One noted correctly the practice on the AT to always share shelters. No one asked me to share and I was glad, especially in these Covid days. I tried to explain that this was not, in my experience, the practice on IR. Here is the order of camp space, as I understand the Isle Royale ethos:
Any open shelter
Any open individual site
A toss up between open group sites (if one can be sure a group is not coming in) and asking to share a tent site.
Setting up a tent in any open spot
Sharing a shelter.

Now, an exception is a storm. Everything is open then and I would certainly waive into my shelter arriving hikers. I may be off base and my purpose is not to pick a fight, but what do you think? If the influx of first timers continues, some clarity on this would eliminate conflict.

All in all, a great trip.

Thanks for the trip report! We did this in reverse a few Augusts ago and enjoyed it greatly. Things were less busy then. I'm sorry to hear that the boaters weren't interested in following fire nor tent rules. I hesitate to overgeneralize, but I've seen more trouble with boaters being rude and violating important rules at Chippewa (and McCargoe) than anyone anywhere else. These were not kayakers nor canoeists, and I suppose those boaters might have had less investment in the island.

I agree with your priority list at the end -- and I've never ended up sharing a shelter. Even when I offered my shelter to a tent-camper during a rainstorm, he declined. I think that the desire to enjoy time alone is quite strong on the island.

This year, the NPS even added cross-country camping as a viable option (for everyone) to avoid sharing things too closely!

thanks for the report! I envy you the beaver quartet sighting.

And I share your shelter etiquette intuitions as well! I always turn my permit (and sometimes other permits I've found along the way) in when I'm done walking, so I can't check. But if ISRO permits have a blank overside, it might be reinforce whatever information's dispensed during the LNT briefing to use that space to review LNT principles and some points of campground etiquette (including KNOCK before barging into the outhouse).

Thanks for the trip report! I like your itinerary and may give it a try someday.

Outside of COVID, I've been to ISRO once in the July-August busy season and had a similar experience on my only visit to McCargoe. I hope to experience it in another way someday.

During the busy season, can one ever be certain that a group site isn't going to be occupied?

Good question about knowing whether a group site is going to be occupied. I have wondered that myself! Perhaps the rangers could put a weekly note at the sites, indicating which nights were reserved or which site was held out of the reservation process and designated for overflow. Also, as you say, briefings and instructions should be very explicit about expectations of sharing sites, etc. Hope The Island does not implement a strict reservation system and campsite fees like Voyagers did for all their campsites a couple years ago-which really favors those who have powerboats over kayakers or canoeists who might have to sit out a windy day (no longer allowed at Voyageurs). Plus campsites went from no additional charge to $24/night which adds up quick when you’re solo.

The Porcupine Mountains did something similar with required reservations a few years ago (they also banned any dispersed camping). While it's nice to be certain that you have a place to stay, sometimes that also forces you to march onwards when interest or prudence says you should stay put. I enjoy being able to change my itinerary on a whim on Isle Royale.

I too would not like a strict reservation system. I always plan my itineraries for maximum flexibility, to account for bad weather, minor injury or just a desire to relax an extra day. A strict system would eliminate that and I cannot see it being feasible for kayakers. As for group sites, I assume this year that only one group is being scheduled per site and any other group site is being designated for overflow. Not a bad idea.

Edited to add: Yikes, I forgot to mention that a total cap on island visitors may be best, and let the visitors work out the individual sites as we all do now.

There is sort of a cap on visitors by the accommodation limits of the commercial carriers. Plus the number of people there from private boats. Not sure how that affects the available tent sites, since I have frankly never seen a power boater pitch a tent. They invariably take a shelter or sleep on their boat.

torpified wrote: Sun Aug 29, 2021 7:34 am thanks for the report! I envy you the beaver quartet sighting.

And I share your shelter etiquette intuitions as well! I always turn my permit (and sometimes other permits I've found along the way) in when I'm done walking, so I can't check. But if ISRO permits have a blank overside, it might be reinforce whatever information's dispensed during the LNT briefing to use that space to review LNT principles and some points of campground etiquette (including KNOCK before barging into the outhouse).

Revisiting this old string and my suggestions about where to camp when all sites are full (see first post in this string). The 2022 Greenstone addressed exactly this and basically reached the same conclusion:
“How to Select a Campsite:
1. At a campground, camp at a designated tent site or occupy a shelter.
2. When all sites are occupied, use the identified overflow group campsite (if present).
3. When all sites are occupied, ask to share a tent site.
4. When all sites are occupied and there are no viable tent sites to share, ask to pitch your tent or hammock outside a shelter.
5. When options 1-4 are full, camp outside of campground per cross-country camping regulations and zone map.”

If anything, this is stricter than even i proposed about sharing shelters.